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Agriculture
Special Issues
Fungal Plant Pathogens in Agricultural Crops: Diversity, Detection, and Control
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Fungal Plant Pathogens in Agricultural Crops: Diversity, Detection, and Control

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Protection, Diseases, Pests and Weeds".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 August 2025 | Viewed by 1076

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Neringa Rasiukeviciute

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Institute of Horticulture, LT-54333 Babtai, Lithuania
Interests: plant pathology; alternative plant protection; biological control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Antonieta De Cal

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Grupo de Hongos Fitopatógenos, Departamento de Protección Vegetal, Centro Nacional INIA-CSIC, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: biocontrol agents; fungi; biological control; postharvest; plant disease; epidemiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fungal plant pathogens in agriculture cause a significant threat to food production worldwide. Early disease identification, detection, and control are critical. In modern agriculture, ensuring relatively constant quality yield is essential. Nowadays, there is a need for biological and chemical plant protection methods to interact in agriculture. Biological diversity, resistance, agronomic practice, disease forecasting, biological fungicides, sustainable use of fungicides, and different schemes of plant protection during cultivation and disease control are important in plant protection. There is a demand for environmentally friendly and safe human health products.

We invite researchers to submit original scientific articles, reviews, and communications that address plant protection technologies, plant pathogens, disease diversity, and disease and pathogen detection and control; we also welcome manuscripts related to fundamental and applied research.

Dr. Neringa Rasiukeviciute
Dr. Antonieta De Cal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pathogens
  • detection
  • diversity
  • control

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1396 KiB  
Article
Dose-Dependent Effect of the Polyamine Spermine on Wheat Seed Germination, Mycelium Growth of Fusarium Seed-Borne Pathogens, and In Vivo Fusarium Root and Crown Rot Development
by Tsvetina Nikolova, Dessislava Todorova, Tzenko Vatchev, Zornitsa Stoyanova, Valya Lyubenova, Yordanka Taseva, Ivo Yanashkov and Iskren Sergiev
Agriculture 2025, 15(15), 1695; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15151695 - 6 Aug 2025
Viewed by 393
Abstract
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a crucial global food crop. The intensive crop farming, monoculture cultivation, and impact of climate change affect the susceptibility of wheat cultivars to biotic stresses, mainly caused by soil fungal pathogens, especially those belonging to the genus [...] Read more.
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a crucial global food crop. The intensive crop farming, monoculture cultivation, and impact of climate change affect the susceptibility of wheat cultivars to biotic stresses, mainly caused by soil fungal pathogens, especially those belonging to the genus Fusarium. This situation threatens yield and grain quality through root and crown rot. While conventional chemical fungicides face resistance issues and environmental concerns, biological alternatives like seed priming with natural metabolites are gaining attention. Polyamines, including putrescine, spermidine, and spermine, are attractive priming agents influencing plant development and abiotic stress responses. Spermine in particular shows potential for in vitro antifungal activity against Fusarium. Optimising spermine concentration for seed priming is crucial to maximising protection against Fusarium infection while ensuring robust plant growth. In this research, we explored the potential of the polyamine spermine as a seed treatment to enhance wheat resilience, aiming to identify a sustainable alternative to synthetic fungicides. Our findings revealed that a six-hour seed soak in spermine solutions ranging from 0.5 to 5 mM did not delay germination or seedling growth. In fact, the 5 mM concentration significantly stimulated root weight and length. In complementary in vitro assays, we evaluated the antifungal activity of spermine (0.5–5 mM) against three Fusarium species. The results demonstrated complete inhibition of Fusarium culmorum growth at 5 mM spermine. A less significant effect on Fusarium graminearum and little to no impact on Fusarium oxysporum were found. The performed analysis revealed that the spermine had a fungistatic effect against the pathogen, retarding the mycelium growth of F. culmorum inoculated on the seed surface. A pot experiment with Bulgarian soft wheat cv. Sadovo-1 was carried out to estimate the effect of seed priming with spermine against infection with isolates of pathogenic fungus F. culmorum on plant growth and disease severity. Our results demonstrated that spermine resulted in a reduced distribution of F. culmorum and improved plant performance, as evidenced by the higher fresh weight and height of plants pre-treated with spermine. This research describes the efficacy of spermine seed priming as a novel strategy for managing Fusarium root and crown rot in wheat. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fungal Plant Pathogens in Agricultural Crops: Diversity, Detection, and Control)
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22 pages, 2503 KiB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Profiling of the Pathogen Complex Causing Common Bean Root Rot in China
by Li Yang, Xiao-Hong Lu, Bo-Ming Wu, Zeng-Ming Zhong and Shi-Dong Li
Agriculture 2025, 15(13), 1426; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15131426 - 2 Jul 2025
Viewed by 336
Abstract
Root rot, a globally devastating disease of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), remains a major constraint on bean production across China. Despite its agricultural impact, the pathogen complex associated with this disease has been poorly characterized in most provinces. To address this [...] Read more.
Root rot, a globally devastating disease of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), remains a major constraint on bean production across China. Despite its agricultural impact, the pathogen complex associated with this disease has been poorly characterized in most provinces. To address this critical knowledge gap, we conducted nationwide surveys during 2016–2018, systematically sampling 1–10 symptomatic plants from each of 121 (2016) and 170 (2018) field sites across 17 provinces in China’s major vegetable production regions. Isolates obtained from symptomatic root tissues underwent morphological screening, followed by molecular identification using partial sequences of EF1-α for Fusarium species and ITS regions for other genera. Pathogenicity of representative isolates was subsequently confirmed through controlled greenhouse assays. This integrated approach revealed fourteen fungal and oomycete genera, with Fusarium (predominantly F. oxysporum and F. solani) and Rhizoctonia (R. solani) emerging as the most prevalent pathogens. Notably, pathogen composition exhibited significant regional variation and underwent temporal shifts across developmental stages. Additionally, F. oxysporum, F. solani, and R. solani demonstrated significant interspecies associations with frequent co-occurrence in bean root rot systems. Collectively, this first comprehensive characterization of China’s common bean root rot complex not only clarifies spatial–temporal pathogen dynamics but also provides actionable insights for developing region- and growth stage-specific management strategies, particularly through targeted control of dominant pathogens during key infection windows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fungal Plant Pathogens in Agricultural Crops: Diversity, Detection, and Control)
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